NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog
NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
NBA news blog
The Minnesota Timberwolves have assigned guard McKinley Wright IV to the Iowa Wolves, the team’s NBA G League affiliate.
In 4:08 of action on Oct. 20 against the Houston Rockets, Wright IV recorded three points, marking his first NBA points. The Minneapolis native played and started in all five games for the Timberwolves entry in the 2021 MGM Resorts NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, averaging 7.2 points on 44.4% shooting, 5.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 26.0 minutes per contest.
The Orlando Magic have signed free agent guard Mychal Mulder to a two-way contract.
Mulder (6’3”, 185, 6/12/94) appeared in 60 games (six starts) last season with Golden State, averaging 5.6 ppg. and 1.0 rpg. in 12.8 minpg., while shooting .397 (85-214) from three-point range. He scored in double figures 13 times and 20+ points three times, including a career-high 28 points on May 14 vs. New Orleans. Mulder was named to the 2021 NBA Rising Starts World Team.
Undrafted by an NBA franchise, Mulder has played in 67 career NBA regular season games (nine starts), all with Golden State, averaging 5.6 ppg. and 1.2 rpg. in 14.5 minpg., while shooting .380 (101-266) from three-point range. He has also played in 134 career NBA G League games (112 starts) with Windy City and Sioux Falls, averaging 13.1 ppg., 4.3 rpg. and 1.6 apg. in 32.3 minpg., while shooting .386 (365-946) from three-point range.
Mulder played in 56 career games (two starts) during two seasons at the University of Kentucky (2015-17), averaging 2.9 ppg. and 1.3 rpg. in 7.6 minpg.
Mulder will wear #2 with the Orlando Magic.
Orlando’s roster now stands at 17 players, including two two-way contracts.
The Sacramento Kings today announced the team has assigned guard Jahmi’us Ramsey and forward Robert Woodard II to the team’s NBA G League affiliate, the Stockton Kings.
Stockton will begin Training Camp at the Stockton Kings Practice Facility in Sacramento on Monday night.
The Oklahoma City Thunder has exercised contract options for the 2022-23 season for forwards Darius Bazley and Aleksej Pokuševski and guard Ty Jerome.
Bazley has appeared in 119 career games (67 starts) with Oklahoma City and averaged 9.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 24.6 minutes per game. Last season, the Ohio native was fourth on the team in scoring (13.7 points) and second in rebounding (7.2 rebounds) while shooting 39.6 percent from the floor.
Jerome has seen action in 65 games (one start) with the Thunder and the Suns and averaged 7.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists, while shooting 38.3 percent from beyond the arc in 17.4 minutes per game. In his 33 games with the Thunder last season, he averaged career highs in points (10.7), assists (3.6) and field goal percentage (44.6).
In 48 games (28 starts) with Oklahoma City, Pokuševski holds averages of 7.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 23.5 minutes per game. After his assignment to the G League last season, the Serbian native increased his scoring average (11.1 points), rebounds (5.4) and assists (2.7).
The Oklahoma City Thunder has assigned guard Vít Krejčí to the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA G League, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.
Krejčí made his NBA debut on Oct. 20 and in two games, has tallied two points and two rebounds in nine minutes of game action.
All of you who were thinking of buying Shaq’s house are too late and must seek out a different property. Via the Orlando Sentinel:
After more than three years on the market, Shaquille O’Neal’s Isleworth mansion has finally sold for $11 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a home in Central Florida.
The basketball legend, who bought the estate for $3.95 million in 1993, didn’t get anywhere near what he initially hoped for, however.
The house at 9927 Giffin Court near Windermere was put on the market in 2018, priced at $28 million. Over the years, that was slashed repeatedly. Most recently, it was listed for $16.5 million.
Raptors 905, NBA G League affiliate of the Toronto Raptors, announced Thursday its coaching staff for the 2021-22 season.
Joining Head Coach Patrick Mutombo’s staff are Travon Bryant, Chris Thomas, Ashton Smith, and Alex Beene. Assistant coaches John Bennett and Arsalan Jamil return to the bench for their second and fourth seasons, respectively.
Bryant joins the 905 after spending the last season as a player development coach with the Detroit Pistons. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach with the Oklahoma City Blue (NBAG) where he spent two seasons, helping lead the Blue to a first-place finish in the Midwest division before joining the Brooklyn Nets as a player development coach. From 2000-04, Bryant attended Missouri (NCAA) before competing professionally overseas for 11 seasons, playing in Greece, Italy, Germany, Ukraine, France, and Japan.
Thomas brings over 15 years of basketball experience to Raptors 905, including coaching and scouting roles in the NBA and overseas. Thomas has served as a head coach for the last six seasons in top leagues across the world including stops in Canada, Puerto Rico, Japan, and Slovenia. Thomas has also served as an advanced scout for the Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls.
Smith transitioned to coaching last season with the Hamilton Honey Badgers (CEBL) after a 10-year professional career nationally and overseas. Smith most notably played 24 games for the 905 in its inaugural season. The Scarborough native played four seasons (2008-12) for Indiana University of Pennsylvania earning NCAA DII All-American honours and graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science.
Beene joins Raptors 905 after serving as the Director of Analytics for the University of Memphis the last two seasons. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of RaYnge, a company that is committed to effecting positive change in sports analytics by providing comprehensive analytical reporting presented in a way that is simple, readable, and actionable. Beene broke into the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2015, as a Business Intelligence analyst, a role he held for two seasons before stops with Indiana and Sacramento in Basketball Analytics.
Raptors 905 now prepare for the 2021-22 NBA G League Draft Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, before opening training camp Oct. 25, 2021. The team tips off its regular season Nov. 11, 2021, when the team welcomes the Westchester Knicks to Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
Pelicans big man Jonas Valanciunas will be sticking around for a while. Via the New Orleans Times Picayune:
For the second consecutive season, the Pelicans signed their starting center to a contract extension without ever watching him play a regular-season game in a New Orleans uniform.
Wednesday, the Pelicans and Jonas Valanciunas agreed to a two-year, $30.1 million extension, which will keep the 6-foot-11, 265-pound Lithuanian big man under contract through the 2023-24 season, a source said…
Only 11 months earlier, the Pelicans signed Steven Adams to a two-year extension worth $35 million. Adams averaged 7.6 points last season, the fewest since his rookie season, and was traded in July.
The Pelicans sent Adams and Eric Bledsoe to the Memphis Grizzlies in a salary shedding maneuver. They got back Valanciunas in the trade and were forced to move down seven spots in last summer’s draft.
The NBA season started yesterday, and the Celtics have their first game of the new year tonight. Fortunately for them, young star Jaylen Brown will be in action. Here’s ESPN.com on what Brown just went through:
Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 8, will be in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s opener against the New York Knicks, coach Ime Udoka said.
Brown, who had been listed as questionable on Tuesday afternoon, said he had “some mild symptoms for the most part,” including some breathing issues that he used meditation to navigate through.
“The most concerning was my breathing,” Brown said. “I had to really focus to get my breathing kind of back to normal. … But the more I focused on it, the better I was able to gain more efficiency in it.”
Former college and NBA head coach Jim Boylen has been selected head coach of the November 2021 USA Basketball World Cup Qualifying Team, and assisting him on the bench will be experienced USA Basketball coaches Ty Ellis and Othella Harrington.
The USA squad will train Nov. 20-25 in Houston and will participate in the first competition window of 2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying games that will be played in a bubble format in Chihuahua, Mexico. The Americans will face Cuba on Nov. 28 and will meet host Mexico on Nov. 29.
Players selected to represent the USA in the FIBA World Cup Qualifying games are expected to primarily be from the NBA G League.
“I am excited, honored and thankful to take on the responsibilities of head coach for USA Basketball’s World Cup Qualifying Team. To have this opportunity to represent my country in the November FIBA World Cup Qualifying games is truly humbling,” said Boylen. “I have previous coaching experience with both Othella Harrington and Ty Ellis. They’re really good coaches and they have international experience, so, their basketball knowledge and advice will be invaluable. I’m really looking forward to this amazing opportunity.”
This will be Boylen’s first experience with USA Basketball.